Σελίδες

Yasmina Carole El Chami

Department of Architecture and Design

P53 | VIVA LA VIDA or DEATH & ALL ITS FRIENDS. A story about the future of an old building.

by Yasmina Carole El Chami

This project stems from a personal interest in DECAY, derelict structures and buildings scattered around BEIRUT. It questions the NATURE of these spaces, and how through ARCHITECTURE, they can re-integrate the FABRIC and LIFE of the CITY, as a PROCESS tied to their USE. The LIFE of a building is not confined to the TIME SPAN within which the building conserves the SHAPE and FUNCTION it was initially designed for, but should extend it through its DERELICTION to its assumed DEATH, continuing through new interventions to be experienced as ARCHITECTURE until its final DISAPPEARANCE. The project for the BARAKAT BUILDING embodies simultaneously the REASON, the CAUSE, the physical manifestation and the opportunity of APPROPRIATION of DECAY and its prolificacy in BEIRUT. What I propose is neither a RUIN nor a MONUMENT. Instead, through the INJECTION of a PROGRAM inspired by the PRESENT state of the building and its CONTEXT, namely, a school of CIRCUS and PERFORMING ARTS, is an architecture that is TEMPORARY, always IN-PROCESS, never COMPLETE. The building becomes a DYNAMIC space harvesting ENERGY into CREATION, rather than DESTRUCTION. A REHEARSAL space, a PERFORMANCE space and a PRODUCTION space. Where once DEATH played itself, now LIFE takes the stage. This project stems from a personal interest in decay, derelict structures and buildings scattered around Beirut. It questions the nature of these spaces, and how through architecture, they can re-integrate the fabric and life of the city, as a process tied to their use. The life of a building is not confined to the time span within which the building conserves the shape and function it was initially designed for, but should extend it through its dereliction to its assumed death, continuing through new interventions to be experienced as architecture until its final disappearance. The project for the Barakat building embodies simultaneously the reason, the cause, the physical manifestation and the opportunity of appropriation of decay and its prolificacy in Beirut. What I propose is neither a ruin nor a monument. Instead, through the injection of a program inspired by the present state of the building and its context, namely, a school of circus and performing arts, is an architecture that is temporary, always in-process, never complete. The building becomes a dynamic space harvesting energy into creation, rather than destruction. A rehearsal space, a performance space and a production space. Where once death played itself, now life takes the stage.

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Yasmina Carole El Chami ,B.Arch AUB (2010) and MPhil AA (2013), is a Lebanese architect and researcher currently living in London. After receiving her B.Arch from the American University of Beirut in 2010, she worked with Solidere, a Lebanese company for the reconstruction of the centre of Beirut, on large-scale masterplans for the Gulf and the Middle East. Her interest in the relationship between architecture and urbanism led her to complete the MPhil Projective Cities at the Architectural Association in London, investigating the role of architecture in rebuilding the idea of a secular state in the context of the privatized centre of Beirut, through the reinterpretation of expired and historically dominant typologies of the city, redefined at the urban scale. Her bachelor thesis (exhibited here), also concerned with the re-conceptualization of historic decaying buildings in Beirut, won several national and international awards including the Omrania CSBE Award (November 2010), the Areen Award (June 2010) and the Chaderji Prize (October 2010). Currently she is assisting a 3-year studio on Beirut as a Capital city, part of the Bartlett Urban Design programme, run by Dr. Sam Jacoby, with whom she is also completing a forthcoming publication on typological urbanism in the Middle East.